


Rise Above

by MisterVaudeville



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Crushing, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-22
Updated: 2017-05-22
Packaged: 2018-11-03 19:43:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10974075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MisterVaudeville/pseuds/MisterVaudeville
Summary: Nobody likes new kids, right? Well...





	Rise Above

"So, what's your point exactly?" Dean threw his cigarette down to the ground and crushed it beneath his boot as he altered his position leaning against the wall. 

"My point is that they can't honestly expect everybody to be able to complete everything within a week!" Sami flung his arms wildly as he spoke, narrowly missing Seth's nose as he began to become more passionate with his words, "It's not possible! The world is full of distractions!"

"She said there's a two day bumper, right?" Kevin softened his quizzical expression, "We might have to work at the weekend, but we can get it done." 

"I want to know what this shake-up business is all about," Seth cut into the conversation, "We're a good crew. We don't need to be shaken or stirred or whatever." 

As Seth finished talking, the four stood in silence as the bell rang and watched as people began to flood the two main entrances to the school. Waiting for the racket to die down, Seth twitched his fingers and began to tap against the wall. Eventually, everybody bar a few stranglers had found their way to the halls and Seth continued to talk. 

"School shake-up just sounds stupid anyway." Dean sniffed and fixed his posture, lifting himself from the wall and dusting off his jacket. 

"We should probably go," Sami led the way as the group slid inside through the side entrance and strolled through the halls on their way to class. The sun shone brightly through the upper windows and cascaded down onto the lockers, sending a huge beam of light around eye level for the four as they turned a corner. 

"Gah, fuckin' sun," Dean muttered. 

"Hey, watch that language!" 

"Yes, Mr Regal." Dean said sarcastically as he tutted and rolled his eyes. All four boys entered the classroom and took their seats close to the back left corner of the room, only being separated by one row of broken chairs set up against the wall. 

"Okay okay," Regal spoke with a strong English accent, "I'm guessing you lot have a few questions about the assembly. Ask away and I'll tell you what I know." 

"Who came up with the project deadline?" Emma folded her arms and took a deep breath. 

"No idea. Trust me though, I'm no happier about it than you. I'll see if I can extend the buffer a little bit since you're all in your last year but I can't promise everything. I have enough to bloody mark as it is without a project being thrown in out of nowhere." 

"What the hell is a school shake-up?" Seth called out. 

"Oh, that doesn't effect us very much. We're gonna get a couple of new faces but nobody is moving classes or anything like that." A few sighs of relief could be heard from various members of the class. 

"New faces?" Dolph repeated. 

"Yes, only two. A pair of Irish lads. I'm going to have to put them in a group, but I haven't decided who's getting who yet. You'll all know by lunch. They will start this afternoon as a bit of a taster so they can get acclimated with their surroundings and such."

"Pfft. I hate new kids." Randy growled from his seat at the far right side of the room. 

"Oi, everybody here was new at one point. Make the lads feel welcome." Regal stated firmly, "I'll have you out of here quicker than you want to know if anybody starts anything." 

Sami sat softly humming to himself and tapping his thumbs against his thighs as everybody continued to ask questions. Kevin turned to Sami, scratching his stubble and clearing his throat. 

"Any ideas for this project?" 

"Nothing much," Sami said, "Personal development is such a vague topic."

"Aw man, you're the creative one! You must have something?" Seth responded. 

"We could always just not do the project y'know," Dean interrupted, "If we only have a week to do it, it can't be very important" 

"Well Dean, that's an idea, but some of us actually want to pass." Kevin shot a glance over to Dean, who simply scowled and flipped Kevin off. 

"Now then," Regal's voice cut through their conversation and the group looked ahead to the front of the room, "Since we can't actually start anything until the new lads get here, you can all take lunch a few minutes early." 

The clang of chair legs hitting each other as people began to stand and leave filled the room as Mr Regal approached the back left area of the room. 

"Lads," Regal said the the four, "I need a few people to help out one of the new kids after lunch, can I trust you lot with that task?" 

"No problem!" Sami said quickly, cutting off Dean's attempt to say something to Regal, likely a vulgar response to his question. Dean shot Sami a stare and Sami completely blanked him in favour of Regal, who began to speak again. 

"Thanks a lot. I'm counting on you to make sure he knows where he's going and what he's doing. He'll be completing the project with you too, so at the very least you have an extra pair of hands to help you out with that. I'll see you all back after lunch." Regal nodded and returned to his desk as his phone began to ring. The group began to stand and exit the room; Dean dragging behind muttering expletives as he pulled a face once Sami turned around. 

"Why did you agree to that!" Dean yelled, "We don't need no stinkin' new kid! We're a crew! Like Seth said!" 

"Look, it's only a week. If he's an asshole then we don't have to work with him after that." Sami responded. 

"Yeah, whatever. If he sucks, I'm blaming you." 

Sami rolled his eyes as they entered the cafeteria and took seats at one of the long wooden tables. Seth and Sami began to rummage through their bags for money before Kevin slammed something against the table surface, causing all three of them to look over towards him. Dean's eyes lit up and Seth's mouth opened. 

"It's my turn to buy lunch, remember?" Kevin said, "You got it last Monday, Sami, and Seth bought us all hot dogs last week."

"Holy shit, thank you Kevin." Sami, Seth and Dean opened up the two pizza boxes and began to pull slices apart. Kevin pulled two slices away for himself and pushed the box over to Dean. 

"Dude, cold pizza is the best." Dean spoke between mouthfuls of cheese and tomato. 

Sami ate his pizza quietly, making sure to thank Kevin every time he took a slice, because that was the polite thing to do. Kevin brushed it off and finished his slices quite quickly. Seth ate two slices and stopped, scrolling through his phone and Dean stuffed his face with as much of the pizza as he could get his hands on - washing it down with Seth's bottle of soda once Seth looked away. Sami looked over towards Kevin again after he'd finished off his third slice and pursed his lips. Kevin was squinting over to the far side of the room, where the entrance was situated, but he wasn't showing any distinguishable emotion on his face. Sami instinctively looked over to where Kevin was looking, and he saw three figures over in the distance. 

"D'you think they're the new guys?" Sami said, breaking Kevin's stare. 

"Maybe," Kevin responded blankly, "Does the tall one have a mohawk?" 

Sami attempted to get a better view of the person in question, but the entrance was so far away from their table across the huge cafeteria that he simply saw three blurry shapes. One was quite tall and appeared to be ginger, one was smaller and stood with his feet quite close together, and the other was wearing a suit. 

"I'm not sure. I can't see very well. I think the suit guy is Helmsley though." 

"What's goin' on?" Seth aksed. 

"I think Kevin found the new kids over by the door." Sami responded. 

Seth looked over to the entrance but by the time he had turned around, the three had walked away.

"I think one of them might have a mohawk." Kevin stated to Seth. 

"Oh shit, that's awesome. I haven't seen anybody with a mohawk in a long time." 

"Don't all your buddies have mohawks?" Dean coughed, "Like, your rock....dudes."

"Dean, I'm not a punk!" Seth reached for his drink, "Did you drink my soda?"

Dean suppressed a burp and Kevin chuckled. Seth sighed and Sami tried to hide his smile behind his hands.

"Ugh, whatever. Jerk." Seth punched Dean's arm as he stood up and Dean grasped his shoulder and yelled out in pain.

"OW! Hey! He attacked me!" Dean was trying to sound pained, but instead let a smile cross his lips as Seth tried not to grin. 

"You're an asshole." 

"You love me really," Dean responded, flickering his eyelashes and smiling with his teeth in Seth's direction. 

"Yeah....more than you know." Seth muttered into his chest as he turned around and began to head for the exit. Kevin and Sami walked a few steps behind Dean and Seth, who had started to push each other as they were walking, laughing along the way. 

"How long until Dean catches on?" Kevin leaned in and whispered to Sami. 

"Good question," Sami whispered back, "Honestly, I think Seth's just gonna blurt it out one day and kiss him or something." 

Kevin snickered and walked through the entrance door with Sami back into the hall. Sami glanced to his watch and braced himself for the sound of the bell echoing through the halls. Kevin and Sami somehow reached the classroom before Dean and Seth, who wandered in a couple of minutes later. Dean walked ahead as Seth gestured stressfully towards Kevin and Sami, who began to laugh at Seth's wild hand movements. Once the room had settled, Regal walked in with the two new students.

"Shit, he does have a mohawk." Sami said unconsciously, slapping a hand over his mouth and apologising when the surrounding tables turned to look at him. 

"I told you." Kevin whispered. 

"Now then," Regal's voice filled the room as everybody fidgeted around to get comfortable. The boy with the mohawk was stood quite proudly whereas the smaller boy stood timidly, closer to the wall. "We have two new members of the class starting today. Sheamus and Finn will be joining us for the rest of the year as they've just recently moved here from Ireland." 

Sami nodded as Regal spoke, but found himself staring at the smaller boy who was now standing a little further forward, with one foot hitting against the other and flushed red cheeks. His hair was cropped and styled to the right; large blue eyes and prominent lips upon his face along with a plain black t-shirt hugging his chest. His shorts ended above his knee and his socks had been pulled up to his calfs. The boy's shoes knocked against each other as he fidgeted out of anxiousness. Sami began to smile without realising it, and quickly snapped himself back into reality as he realised that the two had made eye contact. Sami held up his hand to his chest and waved awkwardly, which was met with a gentle smile and a nod from the mystery boy. 

"Now, Sheamus, I'm going to leave you in the hands of Cesaro for the rest of the day. Just let me know if there's any issues and I'll be happy to help." Regal gestured over to Cesaro, who was smiling and pulled out a seat next to him. Sheamus quietly thanked Regal and sat down to greet Cesaro. The two began quiet small talk as Regal continued. 

"Finn, I'd like you to go and sit with Sami and company." 

Sami's face lit up and Kevin looked over to him with a smirk. Finn spent a few seconds talking to Regal as Kevin leaned over to Seth. 

"I bet Sami and Finn are gonna be the new lovebirds in town. I can feel it." 

"Yeah?" Seth responded quietly, "Well, we'll see. I hope Dean gets the hint first though." 

"It's not a competition," Kevin said. Seth nodded in acknowledgement as Regal began to address the room again. 

"If there's any problems, don't hesitate to let me know. I think you'll be fine with them though." Finn said something unintelligible to the group to Regal before he began to approach the table. Seth swung one of the working chairs from the pile at the back around and positioned it around the table. 

"T'ank you" Finn said quietly, his soft Irish accent prominent as he spoke. Sami took a deep breath and felt the back of his neck tingle as Finn spoke. 

"How's it going? I'm Seth," Sami pinched his leg to try and snap himself back into reality once again, "That's Dean," Dean simply nodded his head, and Finn nodded back to him with a smile, "That's Kevin right there." 

"Nice to meet you, Finn." Kevin said, smiling politely once he had finished speaking. 

"Hi, Kevin." Finn's voice seemed to stay timid, but polite.

"That guy right there is Sami," Seth pointed over to Sami, who adjusted his hat and cleared his throat. 

"Nice to meet you!" He said enthusiastically. 

"Nice to meet you too, Sami." Finn drew out the a and Sami felt the back of his neck tingle once again. 

"Has Regal already told you about the project we've got to do?" Seth asked.

"Uhm, the personal development one?" Finn's voice stayed soft, but had raised in pitch so that it could now be heard by all four members of the group. 

"That's the one! We're not too sure what we're doing for it just yet, so I'm sorry you've been lumbered with such an indecisive group of assholes. If you have any ideas, feel free to input. Just don't bother telling Dean." 

"Hey!" Dean interrupted, "I'll have you know I'm a very thoughtful person, I remember stuff great!" 

"Dean, what did you eat for dinner last night?" Kevin said, folding his arms. Dean hesitated and looked down at his lap for a few seconds before responding. 

"Okay okay! Point proven, dickhead." Kevin and Seth chuckled; even Dean found himself laughing a little. Finn joined in but Sami found himself once again a little too engrossed in Finn to remember his surroundings. Kevin nudged into Sami's shoulder and knocked him out of his gaze. 

"You alright?" He whispered to Sami. 

"Yeah....yeah...." Sami responded, now looking off into the distance and trying not to register how adorable Finn's giggle sounded. 

"Talk to me after class?" 

"Uh, sure. Yeah." Sami agreed, thoughts racing through his mind at 100 miles an hour. 

The next few hours were filled with chatter between all five students, laughter arose and interests were shared as Finn began to feel more and more comfortable with his new group of friends. Only the illusion of productivity had been accomplished as a few hastily scribbled down notes where the only things that the boys had achieved throughout the afternoon. Sami tried his best to join in on the regular conversation, but every now and again he would find himself studying the way Finn smiled. The way his lips stretched out and bright teeth were on full display. The soft tone of his laughter and the way he drew out certain words that caused Sami to experience complete ASMR at least four times throughout the day. 

The bell finally rung and everybody left together. Sami stayed a step or so behind everybody else and began to contemplate how he could explain his weirdness to Kevin, who had asked a few more times if Sami was okay and if he needed a minute to himself. Seth and Dean led the group to their normal place on the yard and turned to face the rest of the boys. 

"Hey Finn, we usually head down to this sweet diner a few blocks away after school, d'you wanna come with?" Seth asked.

"I'd love too....if that's okay with everybody, of course." 

"Absolutely! We'd love to have you. You can stick with us right now if you like and we can show you the way." 

"Hey, me and Sami are just gonna go off for a bit. You'll still be here in about 15 minutes, yeah?" Kevin interrupted Seth.

"Yeah yeah, no problem. See you then guys." Seth said and Dean waved as they left. Finn nodded and smiled before turning back to Seth and Dean.

Sami took a deep breath. 


End file.
